Tours of municipality recall what life was like for women in the Thirties and Forties

Guided city tours specifically for women are nothing new; they are on offer in most large Swiss towns. Some rather special ones are due to be held in Cham shortly.

As Patricia Frison Schnurenberger of the Cham Ladies’ Association explained, every year, in the run-up to Christmas, visits are made to around 100 ladies over the age of 80, many of them being asked about what life for them when young.

Much of what was related is now to be re-told on guided tours of Cham. The text relating to all these fascinating snippets of information about women who are now aged between the ages of 80 and 100 has been written by Judith Stadlin, a well-known Zug actress and authoress, along with the support of local historian Michael von Orsouw.

Participants will be able to hear, for example, about the everyday life of women in the Thirties and Forties, about their hopes, concerns, what it was like at school in those days, the typical jobs they had to do, in addition to other topics such as wages, love and pregnancy, without mentioning names.

Interest in these guided tours has been so great that those planned for September are already fully booked, though an additional one has been arranged for Saturday 5 October at 2.30pm.

Anyone interested who has not yet been able to go on one can have their names put on a waiting list as further tours could take place later this autumn or in spring of 2020. Private tours can also be arranged.

Those unable to make the tours can still hear some of the interesting tales told as eight boards with QR codes are being set up in the centre of Cham and in Villette Park, enabling people with smartphones or tablets can hear them.